New Head

[4-string-thing]

Ok, here's the plan.

My beloved Acoustic 220 head has reached the ripe old age of 30 and I've decided to semi retire the old girl.

I'm in the market for something to replace her at gigs, MY budget is around £250 and I need something of around 250/300watts. I have been looking at a few heads and was hoping for some opinions on the following.

Ashdown Mag 300, Little Giant 350, Hartke HA2500, or maybe a Warwick?

I play Rock or Folk-Rock using a Warwick Corvette and a 78 Precision and want a clean, punchy sound. I'll be using it with my Acoustic 2x15 and home-built 2X10 cabs.

All comments appreciated.

Mark Kinton.

Edited December 26, 2009 by 4-string-thing

[andy67]

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='693812' date='Dec 26 2009, 04:47 PM']Ok, here's the plan.

My beloved Acoustic 220 head has reached the ripe old age of 30 and I've decided to semi retire the old girl.

I'm in the market for something to replace her at gigs, MY budget is around £250 and I need something of around 250/300watts. I have been looking at a few heads and was hoping for some opinions on the following.

Ashdown Mag 300, Little Giant 350, Hartke HA2500, or maybe a Warwick?

I play Rock or Folk-Rock using a Warwick Corvette and a 78 Precision and want a clean, punchy sound. I'll be using it with my Acoustic 2x15 and home-built 2X10 cabs.

All comments appreciated.

Mark Kinton.[/quote]

Talk to Thornybank!

If you want bang for buck or value for money!

best of luck

andy

[umph]

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='693812' date='Dec 26 2009, 04:47 PM']Ok, here's the plan.

My beloved Acoustic 220 head has reached the ripe old age of 30 and I've decided to semi retire the old girl.

I'm in the market for something to replace her at gigs, MY budget is around £250 and I need something of around 250/300watts. I have been looking at a few heads and was hoping for some opinions on the following.

Ashdown Mag 300, Little Giant 350, Hartke HA2500, or maybe a Warwick?

I play Rock or Folk-Rock using a Warwick Corvette and a 78 Precision and want a clean, punchy sound. I'll be using it with my Acoustic 2x15 and home-built 2X10 cabs.

All comments appreciated.

Mark Kinton.[/quote]
if it's not broken why fix it?

[pal1972]

I ran a MAG300 for years, never failed or let me doen, great value head IMO, ive now got the MAG600 and same again, great head never failed me!! The little giant 350 may be too quiet though (i found that out and even tried the LG1000 but this seemed a little lacking too)

[maxrossell]

Try a guitar amp head.

Might not necessarily be your thing if you're going for a high-fidelity sound, but these days every time I've stuck a bass into a decent valve guitar head I've found a sound I liked about a billion times better than any bass amp.

[chris_b]

Hi Mark, I think your amp is better than your cabs. I've heard the 220 through an EV cab and it sounded great, so in your place I think I would look to change the cabs first. You'd be surprised how good modern cabs sound these days, smaller, lighter, better tone and more powerful!

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='umph' post='693838' date='Dec 26 2009, 05:30 PM']if it's not broken why fix it?[/quote]

I see your point, but I look at it this way, it's 30 years old, how much longer can it go on for? And it seems sensible to have a spare amp. The other Acoustic head I have, has blown and doesn't look like its going to get fixed anytime soon.

Besides, I have amp GAS!

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='maxrossell' post='694157' date='Dec 27 2009, 11:03 AM']Try a guitar amp head.

Might not necessarily be your thing if you're going for a high-fidelity sound, but these days every time I've stuck a bass into a decent valve guitar head I've found a sound I liked about a billion times better than any bass amp.[/quote]

Hmmm, in the 70's I used a Marshall superlead, and it was ok but surely a decent valve head is going to be way over my budget?

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='chris_b' post='694173' date='Dec 27 2009, 11:46 AM']Hi Mark, I think your amp is better than your cabs. I've heard the 220 through an EV cab and it sounded great, so in your place I think I would look to change the cabs first. You'd be surprised how good modern cabs sound these days, smaller, lighter, better tone and more powerful![/quote]

Hi Chris, problem is, I'm not looking for something that sounds better (I doubt there is any amp made that sounds better than an old Acoustic) just something that is maybe a bit louder and that I won't find myself wondering if it's going to let me down at a gig.

[maxrossell]

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='694178' date='Dec 27 2009, 11:48 AM']Hmmm, in the 70's I used a Marshall superlead, and it was ok but surely a decent valve head is going to be way over my budget?[/quote]

Oh, sorry, I didn't see your budget. Yeah, you'd probably be looking at at least 350-400 for a good valve guitar head. Personally I think it would be worth the extra ton, but that's only my opinion and no doubt many would disagree.

FWIW I recorded a load of bass tracks using a 50w Marshall Vintage Modern the other week, and the engineer basically swore blind that he'd never use a bass amp again.

That said, there might be a few cheap solid-state guitar heads worth looking at. I used to have [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RANDALL-RH200-GUITAR-HEAD-RARE-DISCONTINUED_W0QQitemZ220529950355QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL?hash=item33589bfe93"]one of these (a Randall RH200)[/url] and it was brilliant. Headroom for days, clean boost and two colours of overdrive that are surprisingly warm and expressive if you don't blast the sh*t out of them.

[chris_b]

If you're keen on Acoustic, I'd get your amps serviced/fixed and just carry a very cheap amp as a backup.
Have you seen this site for Acoustic fans?

[url="http://acoustic.homeunix.net/twiki/bin/view/Acoustic"]http://acoustic.homeunix.net/twiki/bin/view/Acoustic[/url]

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='chris_b' post='694198' date='Dec 27 2009, 12:16 PM']If you're keen on Acoustic, I'd get your amps serviced/fixed and just carry a very cheap amp as a backup.
Have you seen this site for Acoustic fans?

[url="http://acoustic.homeunix.net/twiki/bin/view/Acoustic"]http://acoustic.homeunix.net/twiki/bin/view/Acoustic[/url][/quote]

Hi, yes, I've been a member on the Acoustic forum for a while.

I see what you mean about getting the thing serviced and buying a cheap head for backup. I bought a non-working Acoustic 120 for that very purpose, but it looks like its gonna cost more to get it fixed than it cost me in the first place! Besides, a bit of variety is no bad thing....

[umph]

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='694175' date='Dec 27 2009, 11:46 AM']I see your point, but I look at it this way, it's 30 years old, how much longer can it go on for? And it seems sensible to have a spare amp. The other Acoustic head I have, has blown and doesn't look like its going to get fixed anytime soon.

Besides, I have amp GAS![/quote]
get your other one sorted as a back up and have your serviced, those acoustic amps are built like tanks!

[Mr. Foxen]

Plus if you want more volume, use a more sensitive cab. In fact, I think that Acoustic 2x15 can be tuned to happily accomodate a pair of Kappalite 3015 (cause I was eying that one on ebay for the same purpose) which should give you a bit more sensitivity.

Also, I totally hated the 50w Vintage Modern for bass (but don't tell my ex-guitarist that I know that).

[bassmansky]

theres still a good deal on a mag 600w amp online.£230 i think.good price for 600w imo.

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='bassmansky' post='694801' date='Dec 28 2009, 12:38 PM']theres still a good deal on a mag 600w amp online.£230 i think.good price for 600w imo.[/quote]

I've seen that, but would be worried about having too much power for my cabs.